The invention relates to a sterile environment packaging for an oblong rigid body, which consists of a plastic supporting shell, which can be sealed with a film lid so that it is airtight, and which consists of compressible foam support members.
Packagings, such as yoghurt pots, which consist of a plastic supporting shell and an airtight sealable film lid, are known from the foodstuffs industry. Airtight packagings are also used in technology relating to sterile environments, and when packing rigid and sensitive bodies they have additional support members made from compressible foam which are supposed to protect the packaged product from knocks. Thus patent specification EP 0 111 062 shows a double packaging for endoprostheses which can be sterilized.
The use of this packaging technique for implants, which in joint prostheses consist of oblong rigid bodies, presents problems in that the implant should be supported in each direction, in that identification should be possible in the packaged state and in that during removal no foreign bodies at all, such as parts of support members, should be entrained directly by the operating area.